HOW AL-AQSA FLOOD EXPOSED THE POLITICAL AND MORAL LIMITATIONS OF THE SO-CALLED US-LED GLOBAL ORDER

By Professor Abdullahi Danladi

Presented at the 12th Annual International Quds Day Conference and Exhibition

Theme: From Gaza to Tehran: The Decline of Western Hegemony

In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful. Praise and Blessings of Allah be upon His beloved Prophet Muhammad and his Pure house hold.

Abstract

Operation Al-Aqsa Flood of October 2023 marked more than a significant episode in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; it exposed profound contradictions within the political and moral foundations of the so-called US-led global order. This paper examines the implications of Al-Aqsa Flood beyond its immediate military dimensions, focusing on the relationship between power, legitimacy, international law, and the emerging transformation of the global system. It argues that the events following the operation revealed the limitations of military supremacy in securing political legitimacy, while the international response to the Gaza crisis exposed troubling inconsistencies in the application of human rights and international humanitarian law. The paper further examines the growing scepticism of the Global South towards Western claims of moral leadership and situates the conflict within the broader transition from unipolarity towards a more multipolar international order. It also considers Islamic resistance as an intellectual and moral tradition rooted in justice, dignity, and opposition to oppression. The paper concludes that the significance of Al-Aqsa Flood lies not only in its immediate consequences, but in the questions it has raised concerning the legitimacy, sustainability, and moral foundations of the existing global order.

Keywords: Al-Aqsa Flood; Gaza; Western Hegemony; International Order; International Law; Global South; Multipolarity; Islamic Resistance.

1. Introduction

Every major historical event is eventually judged not only by what haThe significance of Al-Aqsa Flood lies not merely in the military confrontation that unfolded in October 2023; it lies in the realities it exposed about power, morality, and the architecture of the contemporary international order.

For decades, particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States and its allies projected themselves as custodians of democracy, human rights, international law, and what is commonly described as a “rules-based international order.” The post-Cold War period created what some scholars regarded as an exceptional moment of American predominance, while others described the American-led order as a historically ambitious project of liberal institution-building (Ikenberry, 2011; Mearsheimer, 2018).

However, the events following Al-Aqsa Flood have compelled the world to ask fundamental questions: Whose rules govern this international order? Who determines when international law should be enforced? And why do some human lives appear to receive greater protection and attention than others?

This paper argues that Al-Aqsa Flood did not merely expose the vulnerabilities of a particular military and security arrangement; it revealed a deeper crisis of legitimacy within the existing global order. It demonstrated that military superiority alone cannot guarantee political authority, and that power without moral credibility cannot indefinitely sustain global leadership.

2. The Illusion of Unchallenged Western Hegemony

The contemporary international system was largely shaped after the Second World War through institutions such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. These institutions were established around principles of international cooperation, sovereignty, collective security and human rights, although their structures also reflected the distribution of power at the time of their creation.

The United Nations Charter, for example, formally affirms the sovereign equality of states and prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of states. (United Nations)

Following the end of the Cold War, the United States emerged as the dominant global power. The resulting period of unipolarity encouraged the belief that American leadership could provide the framework within which the international system would operate. Yet scholars have long disagreed about whether this order represents a genuine liberal system or an order whose liberal institutions coexist with the strategic interests of the dominant power (Ikenberry, 2011; Mearsheimer, 2018).

Over time, military interventions, unilateral policies and the selective application of international norms contributed to growing doubts about the universality and neutrality of the system.

Al-Aqsa Flood occurred within this broader historical context. It challenged not only a regional security arrangement but also the assumption that one power bloc could permanently define global norms.

3. Al-Aqsa Flood and the Limits of Political Power

One of the most important lessons of Al-Aqsa Flood is that military strength, regardless of its magnitude, cannot by itself create lasting political legitimacy.

The subsequent conflict demonstrated the difficulty of translating overwhelming military capability into a durable political settlement. The persistence of the Palestinian question also illustrates a broader principle of international politics: political grievances, national aspirations and questions of identity cannot simply be eliminated through superior force.

The conflict has also highlighted the growing importance of information and digital communication. The ability of individuals, journalists and civil-society actors to distribute images and accounts directly to international audiences has complicated the ability of established institutions to maintain a single dominant narrative.

This has contributed to a widening gap between official positions and public perceptions in several parts of the world.

Al-Aqsa Flood therefore revealed a fundamental reality:

Power can dominate institutions, but it cannot indefinitely monopolize truth.

4. Gaza and the Crisis of Moral Legitimacy

Perhaps the deepest challenge exposed by Al-Aqsa Flood is the moral crisis confronting the so-called rules-based international order.

The United Nations Charter places sovereign equality, peaceful settlement of disputes, human rights and fundamental freedoms among the principles and purposes of the international system. (United Nations) Yet the Gaza crisis has generated serious questions concerning the consistency with which international norms are applied.

This is not simply a political argument. It is also a question of international law.

The International Court of Justice, in the proceedings brought by South Africa against Israel under the Genocide Convention, issued provisional measures beginning in January 2024 and subsequently reaffirmed and supplemented those measures. The Court directed Israel, among other things, to take measures within its power to prevent acts falling within Article II of the Genocide Convention and to facilitate urgently needed humanitarian assistance. (International Court of Justice)

It is important to emphasize that provisional measures are not equivalent to a final judgment on the merits of the genocide allegations. Nevertheless, the proceedings themselves demonstrate the seriousness with which the legal consequences of the Gaza conflict have been brought before the international judicial system.

The central issue, therefore, is not simply whether international law exists, but whether it is perceived to be applied consistently.

Four contradictions have become increasingly visible:

First, the selective application of international law.

Second, the politicization of human-rights discourse.

Third, the contested and politically charged definitions of terrorism, self-defence and resistance.

Fourth, the structural limitations of international institutions, particularly the United Nations Security Council, whose present structure remains rooted in the power realities of 1945.

This raises a fundamental question:

Can a global order remain morally credible when justice appears dependent on geography, politics and power?

5. Gaza and the Awakening of the Global South

The response of the Global South to Gaza reflects more than political solidarity. It reflects a deeper historical memory.

Many societies in Africa, Asia and Latin America experienced colonialism, foreign intervention and prolonged struggles for independence. Consequently, issues of sovereignty, self-determination and resistance against domination carry profound historical significance.

For such societies, the Palestinian question can therefore be understood within a wider history of struggles over political autonomy and the right of peoples to determine their own futures. Adom Getachew's analysis of the intellectual history of decolonization is particularly useful here: anticolonial thinkers did not merely seek national independence; many sought to transform the international system itself and create more equitable forms of global political organization (Getachew, 2019).

This historical memory helps explain why the Gaza crisis has intensified calls for reform of international institutions and strengthened demands for a more genuinely multipolar world order.

The emergence and expansion of alternative political and economic groupings likewise demonstrate that many states are seeking greater strategic autonomy within an increasingly contested international system.

The question is therefore no longer simply whether the West remains powerful. It clearly does. The deeper question is whether Western power will continue to enjoy the same degree of political and moral authority.

6. Islamic Resistance: A Moral and Intellectual Tradition

To understand resistance movements, it is necessary to look beyond narrow military interpretations.

Resistance, as a concept, has existed throughout human history wherever communities have struggled against domination and injustice. In Islamic thought, resistance is connected to fundamental values such as justice (adl), human dignity (karamah) and opposition to oppression.

The Qur'an repeatedly places justice at the centre of human responsibility and condemns oppression and transgression (Qur'an 4:135; 5:8; 16:90).

Within Shi'a Islamic thought, the tragedy of Karbala and the stand of Imam Husayn occupy a particularly powerful place in the moral imagination of resistance. The Karbala narrative has come to symbolize the refusal to surrender moral principle simply because the balance of material power is unequal.

This tradition provides an important intellectual framework for understanding why resistance cannot always be explained through conventional calculations of military capability.

Whatever one's interpretation of particular political actors or strategies, the broader philosophy of resistance remains rooted in the belief that dignity and justice are values worth defending.

The strength of resistance is therefore not measured only by material resources, but also by the ability to transform suffering into conviction and memory into collective action.

7. From Gaza to Tehran: Towards a Multipolar World

The theme of this conference—From Gaza to Tehran: The Decline of Western Hegemony—captures an important transformation taking place in international politics.

The world is gradually moving away from the assumption of a single dominant power towards a more complex distribution of power. The rise of new economic centers, increasing strategic autonomy among regional powers, and growing demands for reform of international institutions all indicate that the global system is undergoing significant change.

This does not mean that Western power has disappeared. The United States remains one of the world's most powerful states. Nor should the emergence of multipolarity automatically be equated with a more peaceful or just international system.

Rather, the point is that the concentration of power is being challenged.

Mearsheimer's critique of liberal hegemony is useful in this regard. He argues that the attempt by the United States to extend its political model globally after the Cold War encountered the enduring realities of nationalism and great-power competition (Mearsheimer, 2018).

The current transformation may therefore be understood less as the sudden collapse of American power than as the gradual erosion of its ability to define the political and moral terms of international life without serious contestation.

Hegemony is sustained not only through military capability and economic strength. It also depends on legitimacy and moral leadership.

Empires rarely decline because they lack weapons; they decline when the principles they claim to represent lose credibility in the eyes of humanity.

8. Conclusion

Ladies and gentlemen,

Al-Aqsa Flood will be remembered not only as a military confrontation but as a moment of global political reflection.

It exposed the limits of military power, the contradictions of selective morality, and the growing crisis of legitimacy facing the existing international order.

The tragedy of Gaza extends beyond geographical boundaries. It has become part of a wider conversation about justice, sovereignty, dignity and the future of global governance.

The emerging multipolar world should not be romanticized. Multipolarity by itself does not guarantee justice. What it creates, however, is the possibility of challenging a system in which the distribution of power and the distribution of moral authority have for too long been treated as if they were the same thing.

The question before humanity is therefore no longer only who possesses power. The deeper question is:

What kind of world order do we wish to build, and upon what moral foundations should it stand?

Thank you.